Thursday 4 December 2014

Christingle Service. December 3rd.

A lovely evening with the first Advent candle being lit and community involvement in a Christingle Service. The children gave a presentation - What is a Christingle ? - and readings, a bible story, a talk from Father Joe and singing preceeded the lighting of the beautifully decorated Christingle candles. All the children with a Christingle stood on or near the stage. As the main lights were dimmed, faces lit only by candlelight, the singing of 'Like a candle flame' gave a wonderful start to the beginning of the Christmas season in an atmosphere of peace and joy. Donations collected in the special candle boxes are for the Children's Society.

Anne Davies-Hutton

Wednesday 3 December 2014

Year 3 Visit - Learning to tell the time!

What a great morning ! Had my first visit to year 3 whilst Mr Osborne was teaching numeracy. I'm sure all of us have some understanding and respect for the job teachers do but to be in the classroom and involved in the process really gives you a greater appreciation of all the skills required. First of all was the subject itself – telling the time. As adults, it's a skill we all take for granted but it's actually  quite a complex set of rules to learn. Mr Osborne started by playing number bingo with the class using the five times table, refreshing the children's knowledge of counting in fives. Then each child was given a clock face drawing which was then divided into four representing the quarters of hours. The hour numbers were written on the inside of the clock face and the 5 minutes intervals written on the outside. Then time was taken explaining what the 15 minute intervals were called ie. quarter past, half past and quarter to. The children were then given different work sheets to do, working out what the time was for differing clock faces. Afterwards, the children self evaluated how they felt they had done using a smiley face, straight face or sad face, thereby highlighting those children that needed a bit more time to grasp the concept. To communicate all this to 27 children  in just over an hour takes skill, but to keep the children engaged, enthusiastic and well behaved whilst taking into consideration their differing abilities and needs takes even greater skill and it was a privilege to watch. Thank you Mr Osborne!
 
David Bennetts ( Parent Governor Yr 3 )